


Candles to Matches to Fire

by Grindall



Series: S.P.A.C.E. is Crazy [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - S.P.A.C.E., Angst, Dark Past, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Orphan Keith (Voltron), Prologue, Sad Keith (Voltron), Sad Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-03 07:30:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12743805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grindall/pseuds/Grindall
Summary: This is a prologue toThey Keep Calling Me.It’s the day after Keith’s sixteenth birthday and he can’t wait to celebrate with his adopted family.Things don’t go as planned.Motorcycle licenses are displayed, insults are repaid with tickle attacks, candles are bought, fires are started, lives are ended.Hold onto your cake, guys, this is gonna getintenselyangsty with alotof cheese to go along with it.





	Candles to Matches to Fire

**October 24, four years ago**

 

Keith stormed down the steps, taking them three at a time. “Shiro!” He launched himself into his waiting arms.

 

“Hey, kid,” his older brother laughed out. “Did you miss me?” The question was rhetorical because judging from how Keith was clinging to him, he would guess that, yes, he had missed him.

 

Coming to the same conclusion, Keith grunted and pulled away, brushing his hair out of his face. “I’m not a kid,” he protested.

 

“Oh, right,” Shiro replied, his handsome face turning into a grin, causing the pink scar on his nose to scrunch in amusement. “You’re _sixteen_ now.”

 

The previous day, October 23—and Keith’s sixteenth birthday—was a Thursday and Shiro, a one hour plane ride away at college, was only able to get away that Friday.

 

This was his freshman year at college. After deploying overseas when he turned eighteen, he had contracted to fight regularly for four years. On the third year, three months away, he was almost done. Ready to come home. 

 

Then he lost his arm. He’d woken up in a hospital bed with a teary-eyed and sleepless family. Still taking physical therapy, he’d packed up roughly five and a half months later and went to college, studying to receive his bachelor’s in psychology.

 

“Exactly!” Keith agreed, nodding vehemently despite Shiro’s teasing words. “I’m not a kid anymore. And...” Giving his brother his best shit-eating grin, he pulled a card out of his pocket.

 

“Driver’s license!” He showed Shiro triumphantly before splaying his fingers in one quick motion to reveal another shiny piece of plastic. “And motorcycle license.”

 

Laughing brightly, he pulled his kid brother into a tight hug, patting his back with his prosthetic. “You did it!”

 

A chuckle sounded from the doorway and the adopted brothers turned to face their parents.

 

“Keith was so happy about showing you in person,” his dad, Reo Shirogane, told Shiro.

 

The two had an uncanny resemblance: same nose (though Reo’s wasn’t scarred across the bridge of it), same skin tone (or at least, when Reo was Shiro’s age, his skin had slightly darkened over the years), same hair (Reo’s was long and all a dark color that was almost a grayish-black unlike Shiro’s undercut and white bangs, one of the traits he had inherited from his mother. That, and her eyes, Keith liked to joke he was Harry Potter), even the same _ears_! 

 

That had at first made Keith feel left out when he was adopted.

 

Now...he just felt proud to be in such a _close_ and loving family. Their looks weren’t what made them love each other.

 

Keith scoffed and crossed his arms, his face burning. “Was not.” Still. Sixteen wasn’t the age that Keith freely _admitted_ his love.

 

“Hate to break it to you, Red,” Hinata Shirogane—his mother of nine years—replied affectionately with her nickname for him, ruffling his hair as she walked past him. His dark mop of hair was a great contrast to her full head of straight silver hair from both parts stress and getting older. “But I heard you practicing in your room.”

 

_“Mom!”_

 

They all burst into laughter—even Keith, who was desperately trying not to join in because of spite—the family following after her as the conversation continues into the kitchen to feed “that broke college student,” as Reo liked to call him.

 

***

 

“What do you mean we only have _fifteen_ candles? We need sixteen!” Keith exclaimed, dramatically flopping onto one of the kitchen’s island’s barstools.

 

Hinata looked like she was desperately trying to keep herself from laughing at his dramatics. Her usually quiet son was _always_ very enthusiastic when it came to his birthday.

 

“Okay, Red, I’ll go buy another pack. We need more candles anyway,” she told him, a fond quirk playing on her lips as she brought a mug of tea to her smile.

 

“Hey,” Shiro popped his head in. “Is it time for the annual candle outing?”

 

“How,” Keith asked, positively _horrified_ , “can you only have fifteen candles?”

 

As they shared an amused look over the youngest’s head, Hinata and Shiro both had to bite their lips to keep from laughing. “Because last year, you made us get the giant candle that only comes with one,” Shiro recalled.

 

“We had fourteen candles before,” Hinata remarked.

 

“Because the same thing happened the year before that.”

 

“And, the year before that.”

 

“ _And_ ,” Shiro adds, “the year before that.”

 

Okay. Maybe he had a _slight_ obsession with giant red birthday candles.

 

“Oh my _God_!” Keith exclaimed in exasperation. “I’m sorry, Shiro, that you’re only _five_ and don’t understand the importance of _birthday candles_!”

 

“That was...so uncalled for,” Shiro replied, mock horrified as he threw a hand against his short white bangs. He was long used to his brother’s harsh comments, so he merely poked Keith’s stomach in retaliation, causing the boy to recoil.

 

“Don’t!”

 

Ignoring his brother’s protests in favor of his dramatics, Shiro sighed. “And to think,” he drawled, pretending to be devastated, “I was going to go out and buy you candles.”

 

“It’s my birthday,” Keith replied stubbornly, but his eyes were shining with laughter. Shiro never acted like this. Not in his post-war days. “You have to be nice to me.”

 

“Correction, sir,” Hinata spoke up, obviously delighted with the way her older son was acting as well. “Yesterday was your birthday.”

 

A whine left Keith’s lips as he turned to face her, “But, Mom, he wasn’t here. So, he has to be nice to me, okay?”

 

Hinata let out a bark of laughter, her sixteen-year-old sounded like a toddler. “Okay, sure. Shiro, be nice to your brother.”

 

“But, _Mom_...he’s never nice to me on my birthday,” Shiro protested, playing along.

 

“What birthdays?” Keith asked, smirking. “You’ve only had two since I’ve known you.”

 

“Keith Kogane, I swear if you make another Leap Day birthday joke, I’ll—”

 

“Love me forever? Because you have to be nice to me? Remember Shiro, Mom’s here.”

 

She held two fingers up in a wave to acknowledge herself, “I am. Hi.”

 

“Hi, Mom.” Shiro grinned mischievously. “Mom, do you happen to be in Keith’s room?”

 

She let out a breezy laugh. “No, I don’t think so.”

 

“Stop it,” Keith protested as Shiro advanced on him slowly, a sly smirk on his face. “Shiro! Mom!”

 

He let out a half laugh half scream as Shiro heaved him over his shoulder. “Shiro! Stop it!”

 

“I’m loving you forever,” Shiro replied, a laugh escaping him as Keith pounded frantically on his back. “And also, maybe, tickling you until you apologize.”

 

The last part of Keith Hinata saw as he screamed was his fingers as he grasped the doorframe helplessly.

 

***

 

“Happy birthday to youuu,” the Shiroganes chorused.

 

Keith blew the seven little white candles and nine giant red candles on the yellow cake out eagerly, his face heating up from the affection.

 

Keith was about to douse the matches when Shiro popped his head into the kitchen, a piece of chocolate frosting on his lips.

 

“Hey, bud.... I don’t know, but I _think_ I saw a motorcycle in the driveway.”

 

The matches literally flew out of Keith’s hand as he spun around. “Shiro.”

 

“I mean, I don’t know...you might wanna go check.”

 

“ _Takashi_.”

 

“Yes?” he replied, a smile playing on his lips.

 

“Oh my god, you didn’t.”

 

“You should really just check.”

 

“Oh my god, you did!” He let out a squeal as he rushed through and out of the house, Shiro close behind and his parents behind him—from where they may or may not have been lurking outside the door.

 

“Shiro! Shiro! Shiro!” Keith yelled as he ran around the bike several times to check it out.

 

“Oh my God! The Ducati Monster 696?! This just came out! It must’ve been expensive! Oh my God! And look! It’s red! You got it in red!”

 

Everyone laughed as they watched Keith jump from one spot to another. “This is so cool!”

 

He ran to hug his older brother quickly before running back to the bike before Shiro could even reciprocate the gesture.

 

“I love you! Thank you so much!” He jumped back onto Shiro to hug him fiercely.

 

“You’re welcome,” Shiro chuckled, patting the ball of excitement’s back gently.

 

“Dad! Mom! I have a motorcycle!” He turned to face them proudly.

 

“Barely allowed. You just have to take care of it. Don’t do anything reckless on it. No car accidents.”

 

“ _Yes_ , Mom,” Keith replied, rolling his eyes.

 

“Why don’t you and Shiro go for a spin?”

 

“Yes, Dad!” Keith whooped excitedly, already halfway on the bike.

 

“Helmets,” Hinata chided.

 

He grinned at her as the helmet went over his eyes. “I know, I know. I don’t wanna get a ticket my first day.”

 

Shiro already had his on as he slid onto the seat behind Keith. “Ready?”

 

“Yeah! And again, I really love you. I guess I love you guys too,” he added offhandedly to his parents, before grinning even wider than he was before. “But, seriously, thank you so much, guys. I love this!”

 

“We love you too,” Hinata promised.

 

“And you’re welcome,” Reo finished, smiling brightly.

 

“Fuck yes!” he yelled as he pulled out of the driveway.

 

“Keith!” Reo reprimanded, but they were already gone.

 

He couldn’t help but laugh as he turned to his wife, and she joined in. “That boy’s gonna be the death of us,” Hinata commented through her giggles.

 

Unbeknownst to them, however, was that Hinata’s words were true. One un-doused match had managed to spark back to life to light up the newest pile of mail...to the kitchen counter that was still a little oily from the cake baking process.

 

***

 

Keith had killed his parents.

 

Smoke inhalation.

 

Shiro and Keith had arrived home to a firetruck and police cars.

 

And Keith’s fire.

 

The giant smile on his face hadn’t faded for a second. Not until then, that is. He’d rushed at the house, yelling desperately, but Shiro’s strong but shaking hands had held him back.

 

“ _Mom_! _Dad_!”

 

The fire hadn’t even been that big, apparently, a police officer had offered. Smoke inhalation can take only two minutes in some cases, she’d told him and Shiro.

But that was _after_ they put together the reason the fire occurred.

 

Keith killed his parents.

 

***

 

Keith didn’t talk for two days. Not until a very broken Shiro barged into the bathroom he’d been hiding in at a relative’s house.

 

“Keith.”

 

He was looking out the open window, perched on the windowsill. He didn’t look at Shiro.

 

No one would want him. The thought had occurred a few hours ago and it had utterly tore him apart.

 

His parents were dead. Again. He knew how this went.

 

But that was okay, he reasoned to himself, he deserved it. He killed his parents.

 

The only people who ever wanted him.

 

“ _Keith_ ,” Shiro’s voice cracked as he addressed him and Keith turned to face him slowly. “Keith, I really need you right now.”

 

Keith almost snorted. He needed the person who had killed his parents?

 

“Keith...our parents just...died.” He said it slowly, as if worried Keith hadn’t registered that yet.

 

Keith, on the other hand, couldn’t slow the words that slipped out immediately. “No, they didn’t. _Your_ parents just got killed. By me.” It came out quickly—like ripping off a band-aid—he needed Shiro to realize this.

 

Despite the bitter words, he couldn’t stop the shaking that was overtaking his body because of the words he hadn’t properly said until then.

 

“Oh, kid...” Shiro breathed out. Then arms were wrapping around him. Keith buried his face into the shirt as sobs wracked through his body.

 

Lowering himself and Keith down slowly, he rocked him on the floor gently. “You didn’t kill them, Keith. Okay? You want to go through the sequence of that day?

 

“Dad bought the matches. I bought the new candle. Mom lit the matches. You were supposed to douse the matches. _I_ distracted you. It all led up. It was no one’s fault, do you hear me?”

 

At this, he forced Keith back by the shoulders to make meaningful eye contact. His voice barely above a whisper as he took in the bags under Keith’s eyes and how puffy they were, he asked again. “Do. You. Hear. Me?”

 

“I...I hear you,” Keith finally murmured after a moment where his eyes whizzed around the bathroom as the words sunk in.

 

“Good.” Shiro began crying too, but it was silent. “I love you,” he told him gently, his voice shaking with the tears.

 

“I love you too,” Keith grumbled back, already hiding his face back into his shirt in preparation of more tears. Shiro ran a hand through his bangs before resting his chin on the top of Keith’s head.

 

Who knew how long they laid there, but by the end, their tears had dried. Shiro squeezed Keith’s hand as he helped him off the floor.

 

_We’ll be okay._

 

Keith’s eyes twinkled with a sad smile as he squeezed back.

 

_I know._

 

***

 

Keith heard Shiro for three days.

 

But at the funeral, when he saw the closed caskets, he couldn’t hear those words anymore.

 

“I killed them,” he whispered to himself. “I killed them, oh my God.”

 

Shiro couldn’t know, he determined immediately. Shiro would talk him out of it or worry constantly.

 

No, he decided, Shiro wouldn’t know.

 

***

 

Keith sent Shiro to go to the house and get all the stuff that he wanted and could be salvaged from his room because he couldn’t face coming back to where he spent over half of his life.

 

Maybe it wasn’t fair to Shiro, but he needed someone to he the adult.

 

When Shiro came back, eyes red, he _knew_ it wasn’t fair. They hugged each other desperately before Keith pulled back slowly. It was time, he knew.

 

“So...I, uh.... I think I can be packed up by tonight. You can probably get someone from social services to come by tomorrow morning....”

 

“Keith, what are you talking about?” The way Shiro looked at him with such confusion and raw love, Keith felt his eyes start to water. Shiro was going to make this hard.

 

“Shiro, you’re twenty-three. You’re in college. And I’m sixteen, okay?” he glared a hole into Aunt Akari’s couch.

 

“You can’t keep me. And, I think, it’d be easier if you don’t tal—”

 

“Keith Kogane,” Shiro hissed in sudden realization. And anger. Bright red, flaming hot _anger_. “What the fuck are you talking about?” he questioned harshly.

 

Flinching back at the curse word that hardly ever left Shiro’s lips, Keith looked up at him nervously. “I just thought....”

 

“Keith, you are my _family_ , do you hear me? I’m not putting you into the foster system! We’re going to figure this out, yeah? But I’m not letting you go.”

 

Keith looked back down as the tears in his eyes spilled over and hugged himself shakily.

 

 _Shiro_ wanted _him_.

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah, ‘ _oh_ ,’” Shiro retorted. “Don’t you ever think about leaving me again. Come here.”

 

“I love you,” Keith muttered into the crook of his neck as they embraced. “I didn’t mean to...act like I didn’t.”

 

“I know you love me,” Shiro assures him. “We love each other unconditionally.”

 

 _Unconditional love_. Keith liked the sound of that.

**Author's Note:**

> just wait til the main story gets posted.
> 
> thank you for reading!! comments and kudos are really appreciated.
> 
> yes, i looked up 2013 motorcycles.
> 
> and _yes_ , i had to do some cheesy ass premonition when hinata says that keith is gonna kill them.


End file.
